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Is Democracy Dishonesty ! Are four men to rule New Vork with a rod ot iron? 
Is the popular voice to be sliflert at the ballot-box? 



PEECH 



OF 



HON. ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT, 



DELIVERED A'l' THE 



MUNICIPAL REFORM MEETING, 



HELD AT 



COOPER UNION, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, SEPT. 4, 1871. 



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A DeiTioorat D^fe^d^ Denaoeraoy. 



NEW YORK: 

JOURNEYMEN PRINTERS' CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, 

No. 30 Beekmau Street. 

1871. 






■^ -^ 
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Political Corruption in New York. 



New Youk, Sept. 7, 1871. 
To my fellou/- Democrats, and especially taviy constituents of the Fourlfi Congressional District: 

I have bpcu uiali^ued by the followers of tbe iiiercemiry nud exclusive dynasty which at 
present rules the City of New York, /or the couise which I have thought wise to follow ia 
reference to the cliar;;es of miilleasauce made aoaiust our city officials. My actiou was not 
taken till alter serious consideration, n-jr without the approval of many of the best and most 
respected Democrats of the city and 8: ate. Tiiey I'elt as I felt; that our party could not bear 
the odium rcbf.uj* upon us, growing out of the allef^ntious of venality made in the public 
journals and wholly undenied, and tiiat unless somethiug were done to prove that Democracy 
and dishonesty were not convertible terms, we should be defeated in the next Presidential 
election. This opinion was originally formed on my part after consultation with the Dem- 
ocratic reprcsentativis of the nation at Washington, who complained that iu all sections of 
the country the arrogance and corruption of the "Rinp," were laid upon the party at large. 
I know that it is a VL'ry serious thing for a representative man to put himself in direct con- 
flict with any portion of his party, and that such a step could only be justified by grave neces- 
sity. To vindicate the wisdom and siucerity ol my conduct I merely ask you to read my speech, 
which I believe you will find places the ^larae of municipal misrule where it belongs, and 
shows that venality is not a matter of party, and that the crimes complained of are not attrib- 
utable to Democracy in any just sense, nor to one party more than to the other. 

Yours, very respectfully, KOBERT B. ROOSEViiLT. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I do uot know whether it is exactly possible 
for a man to be born a Democrat, but I claim 
to come as near it as any one can. The earliest 
recollection that I have of public questions, 
when my arms had attained little more than 
seven years' pith, was my upholding staunchly 
and unswervingly the great doctrines of Democ- 
racy. Since that time I have been a Democrat ; 
ii" iJ luueracy is like vaccil^ation, when it 
once takes well, it lasts a lifetime. But as I 
did not believe disloyalty to mean Democracy 
• •nring tin wTr, I do not b<;Jieve dishonesty to 
mean Democracy yow. Tlie'vert};- corner-stone 
of our faith is a purje, ecoi;uaiic*il administra- 
tion of governnleut, and without that no code 
juf principles can receive the hearty support ot 
'our party. Our party is a party of tbe people, 
•and the people are alv\:iys on tiic si'leof what is 
right and true. There may be, and iljeredoiibt- 
less are, among both pirties good, houorable 
men. Looking around me, I cannot doubt 
that both sides can lay equal credit in this par- 
ticular. But those who love Democracy, those 
who have put their abiciug faith in it and built 
up the hopes ot the glory ol theireountry on it, 
naturally look upon it as the ropresentdtiou ot 
whatever is noblest and best. 

To us Democrats, ther.iore, comes be charge 
of corruption against our rulers wiih a two- 
fold force, an especial horror. To hear that the 
chief officers of a De-.noeraUc lity, who have 
been elected by an overwhcilmiiig majority of 
Democratic votes,; some of wlioin have been 



chosen over and over again to various positions 
of trust, are venal and corrupt, is indeed al- 
most incredible. And yet what is the evi- 
dence ? The charges are direct, plain, and 
explicit ; misappropriation of vast sums are 
alleged; time, place and circumstance are all 
stated through the daily press with the utmost 
exactness. Pretended purchases, which are ia 
their very nature impossible, are proved to 
have been paid for. The buildinir and furnish- 
ing of our New Court-House are "made the pre- 
text for the payment of bills which are uot 
merely monstrous— they are maniiestly fabu- 
lous. It is pretended that acres of plastering 
have been done and miles of carpeting fur- 
nished. The entire City Hall Park could have 
been plastered and carpeted at less expense, 
and no sane man can put laith in the pretence—^ 
if it were made — that the work charged for was 
really done. However, I must do our rulers 
the credit of saying that they make no such 
pretence. They have never denied the pay- 
ments, they have uot even asserted that the 
mouey Was earned, while they have in every 
one of their lame defences impliedly admitted 
that the bills were extravagant, it not fraudu- 
lent. They have presumed to defy the public ; 
they have tried to lay half the blame on the 
shoulders of Republicans, as if a burglar were 
to excuse himself by asserting that he was as- 
sisted by a fellovv-burj:;lar, and they have stated 
that the charges were brought by political ene- 
mies and so not entitled to answer, but no- 
where h;is there been a straightforward, posi- 



s 



/9 



o 



tive refutation — nowhere a denial even of any 



cJ sort. 

That they are puilty no man who has read 
. >.the statements doubts for a momemt, and no 
-J one believes that any such sums were actuallv 
^expended on theCourt-House. Nevertheless I 
>liave been informed that this building?, instead 
"'ofcostinff $8,000,000 or $5,000,000, as alleijed, 
the latter beiuj;: supposed to be the extreme 
J'\uit, has actually cost over $12,000,000. To 
• rove this I have been shown the tigures pur- 
T)ortiug to have been taken from the Comp- 
troller's books, but I hope I was deceived and 
that they were exa2;gerations. But of the fac s 
distinctly alleged in the public press there can 
be no question ; it is admitted by default that 
millions on millions of the public money have 
been paid to a few obscure individuals for 
which they never did nor could have performed 
equivalent labor; while a little printing eoni- 
pany of $25,000 capital has received $1,500,000 
from the county alone in two years. 

Nevertheless, shocking as ai'e these accusa- 
tions, they are but trivial in comparison with 
the real crime's of the accused, ^oney is, 
after all, a trivial affair; we are a wealthy 
nation, growing with immense rapidity, nilliug 
up capital and adding to' our resources daily; 
we can endure limitless peculations in our 
ofHcials, and slill survive ; but they have sto- 
len from us something dearer and more sacied 
than our wealth — they have stolen our rights, 
our liberties, our very national institutions. 
Such wrongs as I have enumerated would nev- 
er have been submitted to by the Democratic 
party had the individuals composing that party 
not first been deprived of the free expres- 
sion of their will. These, our masters, have 
stolen our ballots, have falsified the will of the 
people, and pulled away the very key-stone ot 
the arch ol liberty. 

What I am about to tell you I hardly expect 
you to believe; yet I will give you every point 
of time and circumstance. I will furnish you 
with every detail and all the minutiie of the 
mode of operations, and, large as is this meet- 
ing, were I to call my witnesses together I 
could fill tills building as full as it is now. I 
know whereof I speak, and in exposing these 
shameless inquities rather in defence of Democ- 
racy than in arraignment of it, I really extenu- 
ate and set down naught m nialiee. By a com- 
bination of certain Democratic ana Republican 
ofHce-holders in this city the voles of the 
people no longer express their will. They are 
lalsified in three ditferent ways, so that no mat- 
ter how honest the mass of voters miirht be, the 
corrupt Ring would apparently be retamed in 
power. To effect this three forces are brought 
into play. There is the use of repeaters at the 
polls, the manipulation of ballots as they are 
deposited, and the false counting of them in 
making up the canvass. Frecisely how these 
schemes are managed I will explain to you. 

Heretofore there has been a registry of all 
legal voters in this city. I can only speak ol 
the past. I cannot tell what Tammany will do 
hereafter, and no w that the registry law has been 
repealed we may be sure that matters will not 
be improved. There were three registers to su- 
pervise these lists, three inspectors to receive 
the votes, and three canvassers to count them 
Cue of each of these boards was a Republican' 



and could stop all frauds if he pleased, hut as 
the parties to be defeated were only those Dem- 
ocrats who were opposed to Tammany he shut 
his eyes with resolute determination. To 
begin with, gangs of repeaters were organized 
whose first dutv was to have their names re- 
corded in as many districts as possible, usually 
from a dozen to fifty; and it was curious with 
what childlike innocence the Republican regis- 
ter would receive the names of 100 men who 
assumed to reside at the private dwelling of 
some leading Tammany Ward politician, or who 
pretended to camp out on some vacant lot. So 
the repeaters were enrolled, and I have had lists 
of them offered to me for sale at so much a vote 
when Tammany did not need them. 

On election day these men wentf to the polls 
in gangs with their captains, and marched from 
disirict to district like companies of soldiers. 
If one of them were challenged, the result de- 
pended upon the locality; in a disreputable 
neighborhood, the challenger was knocked into 
the gutter, and probably locked up by the po- 
lice lor disturbing the polls. In a district 
where this would not answer, the accused was 
taken .before the police magistrate, who sat all 
day to hear just such cases, and who let him 
out on bail, the necessary bail being also on 
hand for the purpose, and the repeater was 
usually back at the polls, and hard at work, 
before the challenger, and no one ever heard of 
such a case being brought to trial afterward. 

In another way were these repeaters used. 
Many people, especially wealthy Republicans, 
do not vote. It is the duty of every man to 
vote ; this is one of the obligations he assumes 
in demanding liberty, and, rather than have 
the duty neglected, Tammany sees that it is 
performed. Toward the latter part of the day it 
will be found that certain persons who are re"-- 
istered have not voted, and it then belongs to 
the polling officers to copy such names on slips 
and pass them to the proper parties outside ; 
and it would horrify if uot amuse some of our 
wealthy miilioaaires to see what raggcd-clothed, 
bloated-faced, and disreputable individuals 
represented them at the polls, and performed 
for them a public duty which they had neo-lect- 
ed. This is repeating. I have given you Out a 
hurried sketch of it ; the votes polled by it 
count up tens of thousands. But, successful 
as it was, it had its defects. The repeaters 
began to im gine they were their own masiers ; 
they thought they held the power because they 
were the instruments of power. To use a po- 
litical term, they undertook to set up shop for 
themselves. Still repeating, when kept in its 
place, is not disapproved by our Ring rulers. 

The manipulation of the ballots— '*Rin;;ing" 
the ballots, as it is appropriately called— is a 
very beautiful operation, audit is said by those 
who have tried it to be perfect. It is now the 
favorite plan ; it is simple, inexpensive and ef- 
Icelive. When one of you good, innocent Re- 
publieaus, we will suppose, is going to the 
pulls to vote the wrong ticket or support tnc 
wrong man, at, you are so foud of doing, your 
unwise intentions are quietly frustrated. The 
in.-iiKctnr holds in his hand the ballot you 
oaj'.iL t.i deposit, and when he receives yours 
ji'ioLiy substitutes one for the other, and drops 
yours oirthe floor before he puts his in the box. 
This is a simple slight-of-haud trick, easily 



learned and readily applied. If, however, you 
are suspicious, and watch the official, or if the 
latter la awli ward and inexperienced, a man near 
by pushes against you or the policeman seizes 
you and accuses you of having voted before. 
Of course ample apologies are immediately ten- 
dered for the rudeness, the inspectors are in- 
dignant that so respectable a gentleman should 
be insulted, they abuse the rough or the police- 
man, you are shown out with great respect; 
but your ballot went down on the floor, and 
the substitute ;;ot into the box. Repeating is 
expensive, false counting is troublesome, our 
Tammany men are not experts at arithmetic, 
and figures are often troublesome, as our amia- 
ble Comptroller will admit at this moment; 
but "Kinging" ballots is a complete success. 
It is only necessary to buy a Republican inspec- 
tor, and a small place or a few hundred dollars 
will usually do that. 

The third plan is falbc couutiug. This is 
donegenerally by transferring the figures bodily. 
For instance, if Jones, the Tammany candidate, 
gets 100 votes, and Smith, the oppotiitiou can- 
didate, receives 200, the 200 of Smith are 
transferred to Jones, who gives his 100 to 
Smith. This is an exquisitely simple process, 
but in practice it is said to work badly, and 
great complaint is made of it by those who 
have tried it. In the first place, the candidates 
are often too nearly equal to give Tammany its 
just preponderance or to overcome some per- 
sistent opposition in a district where this plan 
cannot be worked, for it is found utterly inprac- 
ticable in some districts. Its defects can some- 
times be cured by a false count. That is to say, 
the votes are counted by tens, one canvasser 
taking them up and counting ten, when he calls 
" tally," and slips a piece of elastic around the 
bundle. Of course he has only to take five 
votes instead of ten, and call *' tally " to aug- 
ment greatly the chance of his favorite. In 
one instance this was done so enthusiastically 
that the Tammany candidate had received fifty 
" tallies," or 500 votes, and had a large quanti- 
ty yet uncounted, when the poll-clerk felt it 
advisable to inform the canvassers that there 
were only 450 names on the registry. 

Between these three schemes the voice of 
the people of New-York has been utterly 
stifled up until last Fall, when, by the cruel 
and tyrannical interference of tbe United States 
'.j^'V "rninent, nnder ttic vile baynurt cl'^ft'on 
law, we got a fair vote. The wrong was not so 
much done to Republicans, for the inspectors 
saw that comparative justice was secured to 
their party on general issues, but it was al- 
lowed full scope against opposition Democrats 
— Democrats who believed in a pure govern- 
ment, and were opposed to Tammany Hall. 
Thus it is that Democrats have to bear the en- 
tire odium of the misrule of our city, while 
we Democrats still believe our party to be the 
honest one. , 

• Tbis odium we cannot endure. I speak as a 
Democrat to Democrats. If we would see a 
chance of carrying the next Presidential elec- 
tion, of taking the nation from the hands of 
those who, In our opinion, are unfit to have con- 
trol of it, of restoring to general acceptation 
the principles we have at heart, we must vindi- 
cate our party ; we must remove the load ot 



disgrace brought on us by official corruption 
in this city. Here we are in control. We have 
undisturbed possession of all branches of the 
municipal government, and an immense major- 
ity of voters. For all frauds, peculation, venal- 
ity, and iniquity in the municipal government 
we are responsible, and no party with such a 
record will ever be given the possession of tbe 
National Administration. We must crush 
Tammany, or Tammany's dishonesty will crush 
us. Lartre portions of the money stolen fro" 
our treasury were used to bribe Republicanb 
notoriously the very charter under •>»'hich we 
live was carried by the purchase of a Republi 
can. Municipal officers and the spoil of our 
citizens have been divided between both parties. 
But none of this excuses us. We are in po wei' ; 
we can correct the abuses ; if we do not, we 
ought to sufl'er, and we will. If Republicans 
arp rot blameless, wo are nisinly o-nilty. 

Already we are threatened with tbe loss of 
the Germans. That economical people will not 
submit to have their houses mortgaged by the 
issue of municipal bonds in order to give to 
corrupt men wealth and luxury. From all 
sections of the country come complaints from 
Democrats that they have to defeudthe iniqui- 
ties of Tammany Hall, and that tbey are beaten 
by the bad record of our city rulers. If Dem- 
ocracy would survive, it must put down with 
a strong hand these abuses. We can still do so. 
The people are not so entirely helpless as our 
masteis would have us believe. The latter 
cannot defy an outraged and indignant com- 
munity with the impunity they hope. The 
power is still with us if we are willing and de- 
termined to exert if. In times of great excite- 
ment the usual barriers are sweptaway, and the 
people rush along in a mighly current which 
carries all before it. Those who w'ould resist 
it are overwhelmed and perish, but the corrupt 
always cower before it and are most earnest to 
conciliate it. So it will be here. Canvassers, 
inspectors, and registers, be they Democrats or 
Republicans, are as fond of their lives as 
though they were honest men; and no one ap- 
preciates the danger of irritating the people 
more than they. An aroused and outraged 
public is not patient, and Judge Ledwith laid 
down good law when he told his friends thai 
if they saw an inspector tamper with their bal- 
lots they could shoot him on the spot. The 
man vlio elicits a nation i>Mt of' 'to hiribrJo-iit 
has committed the highest of crimes, and de- 
serves no mercy. We are living under a wrong 
system. To allow a Mayor, elected for two 
years, to appoint all other municipal officials 
for five years may be Tammany Democracy, 
but it is not ours. That system must be 
changed ; a proper mode of selecting polling 
officers must be establisbed ; every protection 
must be given to the ballot, and, incidentally 
to these reforms, the Ring which has secured 
control of Tammany Hall must be put down, 
and then not only will our city's fame be re- 
deemed, our taxes ligbtened, our business 
aflairs Improved, our commerce increased, and 
our metropolis made what it should be, the 
srrandest city in the world, but Democracy and 
Republican institutions will be relieved from 
the discredit which has been brought upon 
them. 



3477-61 
Let -19 



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